Review: Blue Fringe - The Whole World Lit Up

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Blue Fringe - The Whole World Lit Up

Released on 27th March 2007, The Whole World Lit Up by Blue Fringe is their third album. It arrived here quite out of the blue, along with a couple of other new releases from record label Craig 'N Co. in early 2007 but a review had to wait until now as at the time Rainlore's World of Music was effectively in hiatus and the new site design was already in development.

Blue Fringe has been described as "America's favorite Jewish rock band" and reminiscent of Dave Matthews, among others. The Whole World Lit Up certainly delivers some good solid rock with strongly Jewish flavours and themes.

Often mixing English with Hebrew lyrics, and traditional melodies with contemporary ones, one somehow can't help wishing for a bit of original material here, rather than just original lyrics. Nonetheless, everything works well enough. Blue Fringe's The Whole World Lit Up is certainly an appealing enough album, at any rate, if this kind of rock is up your street. It certainly is among the more original contemporary, modern Jewish sounds to be found. And Blue Fringe deserve credit for steering clear of the temptation of moving more into some sort of ghastly pop oeuvre. There is more than enough of that kind of bland, banal tripe around, Jewish or otherwise, and the modern rock approach taken here is refreshing.

The arrangements are superb, and the playing and vocals are excellent, and it would be hard to fault this album on anything in particular. The track that stands out most for me is Listen To You, a very fine piece indeed in the best rock tradition.

Blue Fringe's The Whole World Lit Up may perhaps not light up the whole world and certainly won't set it on fire, but it's a fine and very listenable album nonetheless. Anybody with any interest in modern popular Jewish music definitely ought to give Blue Fringe's The Whole World Lit Up a listen, at the very least.
 

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